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Borussia Dortmund’s five recent transfer ‘What Ifs…?’

By Sean Findlay

Sergio Gomez in action for Borussia Dortmund (Credit: Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports)
Sergio Gomez in action for Borussia Dortmund (Credit: Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports) /
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A rare sight: Balerdi on the pitch. (Credit: Trevor Ruszkowski-USA TODAY Sports)
A rare sight: Balerdi on the pitch. (Credit: Trevor Ruszkowski-USA TODAY Sports) /

Leonardo Balerdi

The numbers:
Bought for: 15.5 million euros
Sold for: 11 million euros
Current market value: 10 million euros

One year after hijacking Real Madrid’s plan to sign a talented youngster, the BVB bosses did the same to Barca. The Catalan giants were reportedly interesting in signing Balerdi from Boca Juniors. Another parallel to the transfer of the Swede was that the coach didn’t really seem to be in on the transfer. As a result, the young Argentine defender had a hard time earning minutes on the pitch.

He ended up playing only eight matches for the first team before being loaned and finally sold to Marseille. Compared to other players on this list, his departure was much quieter. Although that might be attributed to Lucien Favre’s much more mellow nature compared to Thomas Tuchel.

It seems like the two-time international has found a home in South France. Playing in central defence, he is a starter for the Champions League side and seems to be trusted by new OM coach Igor Tudor.

Would he have a role on today’s squad?
Balerdi would not play as much for this Dortmund side as he is playing for Marseille. It’s even doubtful that he would be much higher up the picking order than he was in 2020 with Süle, Hummels and Schlotterbeck already in the squad.

Being right footed like Hummels and Süle doesn’t help him either. Apart from Dortmund losing a chunk of the money spent, this transfer seems to be a rare win-win-win situation.